Eco-licious

Alright it’s the weekend, the clocks are going forward, I’ve made a big pot of jambalaya to make up for the mostly vegan week I’ve had, the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the LOW 60’s this weekend, meeting with a prospective client this coming week, and my husband says he has a surprise outing for us on Monday. Rock on! There may be a shit ton of unknowns right now in our lives and the world at large, but I’m feeling pretty positive.

So with that, I’ve tried to locate a few silver linings amongst the heartbreaking stories…

While women in Puerto Rico are bearing the worst of the storm’s aftermath and rebuilding – including sexual harassment and assault – I wanted to share some of the she-roes that Grist found: “In the rural locale of Mariana, known for the island’s annual breadfruit festival, Christine Nieves started a community kitchen with the help of elders — all women. Six months after the storm, Mariana, like roughly 12 percent of the island, still does not have electricity. Nieves is ecstatic that her organization, Proyecto Apoyo Mutuo Mariana (Project for Mutual Aid Mariana), recently received a donation of eight solar-powered washing machines (another woman in Connecticut donated the money to purchase them). They will make a tremendous difference for the women who volunteer in the project’s kitchen and help with the other social services they now provide.” (But damn, where is Men’s Roar in PR, I ask?)

After my last Reiki session, I started reading more about masculine vs feminine energies, to understand more about what this means as my Reiki practitioner spoke deeply of how intense the masculine energy was coming from my body. The aforementioned article goes on to describe that “Carl Jung also talked about this concept of the anima and the animus – that men have a feminine side (anima) and women have a masculine side (animus), for most of us we have repressed these aspects of ourselves and we must learn to come to terms with both of these energies and how they flow and interact in our day to day life.” It didn’t surprise me after reading more about the action-oriented nature of the masculine energy because I’m all about getting shit done, no matter what emotionally is happening. I’m the one who, during a crisis, packages the hurt up and puts it in a corner while I get things taken care of, often related to organization and logistics and financials, and then it all hits my body like a ton of bricks because, as we all know, compartmentalization doesn’t last long. I’m looking forward to my next session with Heidi as we work on the healing that so very much needs to happen after the losses experienced.

I’m a big fan of reuse/repurposing, while also focusing on acquiring less in the first place, and with there being fewer ways to recycle, these 100 Ways to Reuseare pretty kickass. A cleaned-up old doorknob as a pestle? Plastic tablecloths repurposed into patio furniture covers? An old roller windowshade repurposed with chalkboard paint for writing on? Sweet dude.

“Think about what would happen if students opened a textbook and found that in 1860, nearly 4 million enslaved people of African descent were worth $3.5 billion — more than the nation’s railroads and manufacturing combined, and the most valuable single asset in America. Banks, corporations and universities profited from slavery, providing inherited wealth for whites, with centuries of unpaid wages for black labor, helping explain today’s racial wealth gap.” Where’s the silver lining in that, you ask? The fact that I found this article calling out the wholly inadequate way our kids are learning about slavery in today’s schools was on CNN.comthis week, not buried in some indie publication that few will see. We must do better – and NOT rely on schools to ensure kids know why things are the way they are in our world today. Along with this, I hope it can be taken as inspiration for parents to be more actively involved in their kids’ education – schools aren’t the only ones who should be teaching…

And for some non-silver linings that I want to put out there…

International Women’s Day was this week. What – one whole DAY for half the population of the world? Gee whiz. This article about books was another example of how skewed things are…in fact, I was just gently schooling my husband the other day in how few women authors were on his section of the bookshelf (fortunately, he’s totally game to focus on it, and has already read some of my Maya, Toni and Alice for starters). Like with films, I’ve always watched all types of them and noticed how all-male movies are expected to be popular with all genders yet female-centric casts were blown off as “chick flicks” or “date night” movies for a guy to impress his female date…or better yet, how many men are chided for liking THOSE kinds of movies, or books, or what-not. “Women are used to living off scraps that fall from the table. Whether we’re being patronised by politicians touting for our votes, or being told by advertisers we’re “worth” a £3 bottle of shampoo, we have learned to take any crumb of grudging appreciation. And we even have a day each year – 8 March, International Women’s Day – to feel special.” (source)

“If this was put out by a terrorist organization, we would be raising the terror threat level in this country.” A Parkland victim’s father gets it right about the NRA being a full blown domestic terrorist association. Watch this, and remember folks, this is the association that is so fucked up beyond all recognition and NOT operating on the original tenets upon which it was founded.

This billboard originally was an advertisement for shooting this gun at a Vegas range. The silver lining? Calling out the messed up view of guns in this country. I grew up with many guns in my house as my stepfather was Oregon chapter president of the NRA. I got my own .22 rifle at age 13, and we had American Rifleman on the coffee table – but never ONCE was there any defense (or ownership of) these types of guns which the NRA – instead of taking advantage of an opportunity to show real leadership (and thereby get the respect and support of those who might not be gun owners), they are now being lumped in as some kind of second amendment right. This is not your grandpa’s NRA that we are now dealing with. “The National Rifle Association was founded in 1871 by National Guard and retired Army officers in New York who vowed to “promote rifle practice” and improve marksmanship. The first president, Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, had seen too many Union soldiers who couldn’t shoot straight. For generations thereafter, the NRA focused on shooting, hunting and conservation, and no one thought of it as a gun lobby.” (source)

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One thought on “Eco-licious”

Lots is stuff to dig into when I have a day off. I’m definitely interested in the anima/animus stuff because much of that felt like it was describing me. Thank you for expanding my horizons with these weekly roundups😚

Great posts and great points.
I disagree with the masculine energy representing getting shit done, why does this have to be a specific trait that can only be assigned to one gender.
Interesting point raised with parents teaching children too. Teachers are the lessons and parents are the homework where you evaluate and check your answers and what you’ve learnt.

Thank you, I just finished reading it. It was an enlightening read! Great tips at the end of the article as to how to balance and bring out your feminine energy as well; definitely a significantly more healthy approach to life.